Kasumigaseki Country Club and its East Course, host site for golf in this year’s Olympic Games, was founded in 1929 and renovated a few years later by British designer C.H. Alison before being closed during World War II. The U.S. Air Force took over the property following the war, and the East and a new West Course were re-established in the following years.
The East featured two greens on each hole for decades, with one green covered in a winter grass and the other in a grass that thrived during the warm summers.
All that changed with a 2016 renovation by American architect Tom Fazio and his son, Logan, who converted the private Kasumigaseki’s double greens into single greens. The Fazios also repositioned fairway bunkers to challenge modern professionals, and they reframed several holes in their existing corridors. The greens are now covered in bent grass, with zoysia in play on the rest of the course.
A 2017 aerial photo of Kasumigaseki Country Club in Kawagoe, outside of Tokyo, Japan (Miyuki Saito/Kyodo News via AP)
The course will play 7,447 yards for the men July 29-August 1, and it will play 6,648 yards for the women August 4-7.
Kasumigaseki has been the host of several notable golf events, including several Japan Opens and various top amateur events. It hosted the 1957 Canada Cup, a precursor to the World Cup, and Hideki Matsuyama won the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship on Kasumigaseki’s West Course in 2010. Now the Masters champion, Matsuyama is a favorite in these Olympics.
Thanks to yardage books provided by Puttview – the maker of detailed yardage books for more than 30,000 courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges that players will face this week and next. Check out each hole below (yardages will be adjusted for the women), and follow this link to the club’s website to see drone footage of each hole, with narration by Tom Fazio.